Kakumeiki Valvrave – 23

Another impressive episode of Kakumeiki Valvrave, but boy – they’ve sure left themselves a lot to do in just a week.

There are myriad timeless expressions that fit the master plan L-Elf came up with to strike back at the rotten core of Dorssia. Hoist by their petard, turnabout is fair play, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery… Take your pick – the point is that the truth is a powerful weapon no matter whose hands its in, as long as that person knows how to use it. But for all that, the singular moment of the episode is surely the singularly Valvrave expression of sibling affection – “You can eat me if you want.”

Now that we’re on the eve of the final episode, I’ve come around to quite liking the unusual but not unheard of ploy Okouchi Ichiro used in giving us a glimpse of the distant future to tease is about the way the series might end. Because of the unique nature of the plot it leaves seemingly endless possibilities open to consideration – it even struck me this week to wonder what might happen if one of the characters’ bodies died while they were in the midst of a switch with another (think about the possibilities for the Coffee and Sugar end). It’s Valvrave and you can’t count that sort of thing out – anyone can see what those flash-forwards are hinting at, but in the final analysis I don’t expect this of all shows to do what’s predictable in the end.

Obvious or not, there’s no denying things are looking pretty grim for Haruto (although not as grim as they could, considering the fate of his friends). There’s certainly no such thing as plot armor with Valvrave, and his memories are disappearing fast – even Pino is getting concerned, not wanting her buffet to give out on her just yet. It doesn’t help matters that Shouko is still holding onto her now irrational belief that he might be a threat to the students, even after her crying apology in the Valvrave cockpit last week. As Haruto tearfully says once freed of the need to put on a brave face, the two of them just can’t get a break – but if he’s going to die, I’d hate to see it happen before he and Shouko have a full reconciliation at the very least.

The truth is, even if Haruto were to survive he’s probably a better match with Saki at this point, given all that both of them have seen. Not to mention they’re the same species, and have a pinky swear between them (among other things). That said I like the notion that he views L-Elf’s plan as a way to show the truth especially to Shouko, not just to the world at-large – as statements of devotion go it’s not a bad one. As plans go, too – and here’s one instance in which Valvravedoes do what’s predictable. L-Elf finally teams up with A-Drei and X-Eins, and Q-Vier is left on the outside looking in. In the process we find out what H-Neun’s earrings were for, and seemingly get the proof that he really is dead.

As A-Drei’s reformed mini-squad works to sabotage from the inside, the lynchpin of L-11′s plan is for the 4 surviving Valvraves to get Akira to Module 77 so she can hack the satellite broadcasting the summit between the Feuhrer and the ARUS president. After Dog was put down last week, it always seemed likely that Thunder was soon to follow – the death flags were flying high and proud – and giving up his life to buy Akira hacking time was a classic mecha pilot exit. And in classic fashion it wasn’t in vain – now the world knows the truth of who’s really running the show in Dorssia, and predictably the Magius are in a panic.

The question is of course, what is the world to do with that information? Revealing Amadeus to be an inhuman monster doesn’t make the Valvampires any less inhuman monsters. Outing Amadeus may have removed a significant obstacle to Coffee and Sugar’s dream of a world where inhuman monsters can live in peace, but plenty remain. The flash-forwards seem to irrefutably suggest they were surmounted one way or the other, and that world was established on Module 77 – perhaps a union of Dorssian royalists and Sakimori refugees. But a great many things would need to happen first, and how do you show all that in 22 minutes while still leaving some time for what’s a very complicated personal story to play out? A third season is certainly not an impossibility – Valvrave isn’t a bad seller – but I haven’t heard even a whisper of solid evidence that it’s under consideration. Assuming we aren’t headed in that direction the series finale promises to be anything but low-key and reflective – but given the sort of show Kakumeiki Valvrave has been, that somehow seems fitting.

Did the Space Vampire Illuminati have any contingency plan if they were revealed to be immortal? Because now in hindsight revealing to the world that aliens exist seems detrimental to their plans. Ruled the world in the shadows my ass, they couldn’t rule anything if they are this stupid.

Those council bitches got a taste of their own medicine! After stabbing Saki to the heart and have them all scorned for being monsters. Now the exact same thing happened to them, quite ironic, and brilliant plan by L-Elf as always.

Yes 1000%, Saki is the best girl, and I do hope for a Haruto x Saki in the end, and really hope Haruto would use up all his memories with Shouko to defeat Cain, thus forgetting her, and hooking up with Saki as a result. Well that’s assuming he wont die or also forget his memories of Saki.

Seeing the plan backfire and bite them in the ass was what I was waiting for. It was too risky and dumb to begin with. What made this even more amusing and quite surprising is that the Magius had high speed regeneration as well.

He who lives by secrets, dies by secrets exposed. The whole catch phrase “system that unveils the world” finally jumps into place like missing puzzle element.
So, Thunder after proudly waving biggest death flag I’ve ever seen (pay SOME attention to defence!) dies. RIP my burly friend. You have done well.
And, the aplhanumeric spec ops squad after some losses and absent Q-4 (who is too busy being berserk to care about subtleties of state power structure) gets to do what they have done on the very first episode: infiltrate Module 77 and start absolute rampage. Blitzendegen!
And now there is perfect way to drive a wedge between ARUS and Dorssia, not to mention the attack on the Leader is probably a first shot in a larger plan involving Royalists uprising (L-11 messaging Kriemhild, who probably has her own score to settle after H-9 death…)
Biggest threat at large is of course Cain, who not only has taught L-11 everything he knows, but is immortal magic-wielding monster to boot. I wonder how they will deal with him, though there is one thing I suspect, but will put as a spoiler here:Show Spoiler ▼

L-11 can make Cain an offer to join them, and become much higher in hierarchy of new state than he was in the Council)

Agreed, I am doing my Lelouch laugh, while doing cartwheels, after I saw how L-elf’s plan worked like a charm. “While L-elf, the enemy is just a giant without a brain.” Cain was right about that. And now that the giant got his brain back, a major come in just one episode. Now the only MAIN question is who will “die.” ( die is put in quotations for a reason) For Yamada to die, to be frank I didn’t see that coming, at least I didn’t expect him to die right before learning the “magic words” to use the runes. Anyway, Sunrise kill Lelouch, so I can’t expect what will happen to Haruto, since he will lose his memories then he will either die like Maria or just forget about Shoko.

I do wonder what did the text, that Shoko was readings, said. I hate not being able to read Japanese.

That epic scene of L-Elf cutting off that Dorssian guy’s neck together with an befitting background music, reminded me a lot of the epic scenes in Code Geass when Lelouch’s plan succeeds, the only thing missing here is the maniacal laughter!

The text that Shouko read is not important, it only was the reaction of the people towards the revelation that the Dorssian guy is also one of them.

Here are some of the lines:
“Hey, did you see that just now?”
“Cheat”
“Is that for real?”
“That’s just like M77′s students!”
“Who the hell said Dorssia was on our side?!”
“Yeah, they were the bad guys all along.”
“I dont believe it.”
“Too quick to reveal their hand.”

I really am hoping that’s true! Shouko doesnt deserve Haruto, and Haruto certainly is better off with Saki who truly cares for him and would abandon everything for him, the movie line she said when they were watching that movie together. While Shouko would choose being a politician for the sake of the people rather than be with him.

it could be Haruto’s son with Saki, with Haruto biting L-Elf and then switching, then L-elf(in Haruto’s body) sacrificed himself in some way, then leaving Haruto in L-elf’s body and married Saki instead of Shouko and had a child that looks like L-elf. Haruto+L-Elf+Saki. He had 2 birds in one stone. XD

I knew it, I knew it as soon as I saw the PV that Thunder was going to die. And I was on edge the entire time, crossing my fingers that maybe he’d make it out in one piece. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be (made even worse by how close he was to defeating Q-Vier). Akira certainly didn’t look to take it (or what Shoko said) very well, though Saki doesn’t seem to know about it (nor do we see her reaction to her senpai’s death or what Shoko and them pulled).

Yes, Akira finally toughened up, enough to act on her own, and perhaps even regarded the valrave pilots as her friends, seeing as she was disheartened when Yamada died. Also she was pissed off when Shouko chose to abandon them despite her being her first friend, and even this episode when she still doesnt trust them that they dont pose as a threat, causing her to pound on the floor of the ship, she was probably pissed off at how Shouko acted despite Inuzaka dying to protect them.

Still i was surprised that in the other cargo ship, the one where the valraves are staying together with the scientist, seem to understand Haruto and the others well, seeing as they were happy about Saki returning, plus Otamaya, Takahi, and Satomi seemed to understand and accepted their existence as Holy Spirits.

Maybe those who accepted the valvrave pilots will become part of the Golden 7. If that’s the case, then the golden 7 might be Satomi, Akira, Saki, Otamaya, Takahi, A-Drei and X-Eins. (assuming L-Elf and Haruto doesn’t make it alive beyond this season)

I think the reason why Otamaya and gang accepted them so readily it’s because they’ve fought alongside the valvrave pilots during the escape from Dorssia, so they are thankful and feel camaraderie with the pilots. At least the valvrave pilots aren’t entirely abandoned by ‘New JIOR’ (on a side note, has sunrise ever explained what does JIOR stand for?)

Thats it, I’m all the more convinced that Shoko will be the one responsible for the creation of the Cow Empire that we saw in s1. ShokoXHaruto ship has sunk. The worst possible outcome for her (if she doesn’t create the Cow Empire) would be to die in front of Haruto while he lose all his memories of her

I really hope that the only memories that Haruto will lose is that of Shouko’s. I really want to see the look on her face when Haruto tells her “Who are you?”, as he walks off towards Saki. Hoping he still remembers Saki as she was the one who understands him instead of just scorning him as a monster.

Both she and Saki didnt know about Haruto at first, BUT when Saki knew about it, she never treated him as a monster and scorned him. Unlike Shouko, and even after she knew the truth, she still chose to be a politician and put up a brave front of rejecting him. This further proves that she will choose her “duties” over Haruto. While Saki would abandon everything for him (ie. the movie line she said when they were watching that movie in S1).

I’ve wanted Q-Vier to die for a while, but now? Now I want him to die slowly and painfully. I don’t even care who does it (personally, I wouldn’t mind Akira kicking some ass). It probably won’t be Haruto, who’s going to face off against Cain’s pimped out valvrave in the obligatory mecha final boss battle. I also hope that Shoko is just about over the whole “You’re a monster” thing, and honestly I wouldn’t be too surprised/upset if she sacrificed herself for Haruto in some way.
Anyway, now we’ve got a ton of stuff to finish up next week; the final mech battle(s), overthrowing the magius, and explaining the time skips, just to name a few. And while we’re on that subject, I hope they touch on a certain student council president becoming immortal. Maybe the surviving students all get in valvraves and become immortal?

I rather liked how this was done. The students on that ship weren’t ready to trust the pilots yet, so Shoko kept Haruto at arm’s length to keep them from panicking & to keep in control of the situation, despite her desparately wanting to say she’s sorry.

If only Shoko could have put her emotions in check and thought with her head like this during the last confrontation with Haruto.

It also made me think for half a second … that b*tch, she still doesn’t trust him? Then they smack you in the face for doubting Shoko with Pino’s revelation to Haruto.

I’ve been wondering the same thing, that what would happen if someone dies during the body hijack? Would both people die? From the looks of the preview, it looks like L-Elf is going to offer Haruto his body again…

You’ve reminded me that I never finished that show.I recall dropping it when I saw Mina turn into miss super-hero vamp queen that is there to save punish evildoers & save the day(she looked pretty hot in her grown-up form though).

I enjoyed it until then though so I was wondering if I ended up dropping it prematurely and missed out on something good.

So, that scene between Saki and Haruto and the promise she commented at episode 4 was about never giving up or creating a world where both Holy Spirits and humans could live?

Anyway, another great episode! I’m expecting a S3 since there’s so much plot yet to explain (like the Seven Goldies, which means another 4 Valvraves since Inuzuka and Yamada have theirs destroyed) and a better view of 200 years in the future. As well, of course, a explanation of who is that young prince.

Kakumeiki was, for me, one of the best shows of 2013, and I hope I have some more of this in 2014 or maybe 2015.

I’m still catching up with this season, currently at about halfway. I probably spoiled myself a bit by commenting on this ep, but I’m just wondering, do we ever come back to the crazy stupid fun the first season had?

It’s actually a lot more focused.S2 Valvrare isn’t just enjoyable as a train-wreck but as an actually good anime.Some of the Valvrare craziness has been coming back lately though,and if it doesn’t get a 3rd season it’s probably gonna end in full Valvrare style.

That might not exactly be a good thing though,since now that it’s proven it can be something else besides a crazy,stupid & fun show,it’s like it’s taken on the responsibility of providing a down-to-earth,conclusive ending.

A third season is certainly not an impossibility – Valvrave isn’t a bad seller – but I haven’t heard even a whisper of solid evidence that it’s under consideration.

Sigh. I suppose the money is better spent on Buddy Complex. Because that show looks just so totally exciting and not horrifically generic and boring. I’m expecting space werewolves to appear in it, or else I’ll be very disappointed.

I think it is as clear as it can be, that Shoko fully understands Haruto’s feelings. The reason she can’t openly show her trust in Haruto is because what reassured Haruto allegiance can’t be shown to the rest of the students.

Shoko practically banished Haruto in front of a dozen students. Hours later Haruto returns. How are the students supposed to understand what’s going on if Shoko suddenly welcomes him back with open arms? Put yourself in the shoes of the students.

Ultimately, Shoko took the students into consideration and didn’t accept Haruto back for the sake of the students. As we saw in this episode, everyone is relying on Shoko as their leader. If the leader suddenly turned 180 that goes beyond their understanding, they’ll lose their pillar of support and I can imagine things will take a turn for the worse; Kind of what L-Elf is doing to the Dorssia Leader – Hours ago banishes the monsters in global TV – Now he’s proven to be the very same monster.

I know that she was putting up a brave front for the students due to them still not understanding the situation and still dont trust them.

This however would mean that she would choose her duties as prime minister over being with Haruto. This is the kind of character that’s supposed to be selfless by acting for everyone and abandoning her personal affairs like her love for the guy.

I hate this kind of character, as it reminds me of Cagalli in Gundam Seed abandoning Athrun. Why couldnt she be like Lacus, becoming a chairwoman of Plant’s supreme council yet still be with Kira. Heck they still remained as lovers despite becoming high ranking officials, they wouldnt just abandon each other over their duty.

I don’t remember much about Cagalli, but if Shoko disregarded common sense, for the story to be logical, Sunrise will need to sub in malcontent upon the students for Shoko’s actions.

If Sunrise doesn’t attempt to do an ass-pull, they’ll need to use screen-time to make sense of the situation; If I were one of the students, I’d think something was wrong with the Prime Minister; 8 hours ago names Haruto a monster, 8 hours later welcomes Haruto back.

While your way is a possible alternate route to extrapolate Shoko’s personality, I think the fact that only 1 episode remains might have limited their choices over this matter.

Either way, I really think Shoko is being over-hated, maybe due to the lack of clarity in the delivery.

My brother will be PISSED that the “little psycho” killed a Valvrave pilot. He hates the guy with a passion. That said I am looking forward to the finale myself next week. Though I wish this show had more episodes to show but oh well. It has been a crazy ride so far.

I am as well, I hate Q-Vier more than Cain, as he annoys the living daylights out of me. Plus what annoys me the most is that not only did he kill Yamada, but he lived! I thought Yamada died in vain, by not taking that little prick with him! That wouldve been perfect, kinda like how Inuzaka managed to defeat the enemy by clinging onto it before exploding.

Re. Haruto x Saki, the writers REALLY NEED to explain Haruto sexually assualting Saki back in Season 1. All we know is that Pino was happily involved.

Why did it happen and what did it mean? Was it ever meant to serve some kind of narrative purpose in the plot? Or was it just for shock value?
11 episodes and not a single word was said throughout Season 2.

I thought it was made clear that the sexual assault was a result of his rune deficiency, because he had the giant X across his face and Pino was yelling about being hungry and wanting an exchange of information.

All we know is that some acquisition of runes needs to be made and to be honest, I just accepted that it was another means by which runes were acquired.

Sure, maybe it was an attempt at shock value but… It’s a show, I really don’t care.

It wasn’t rune deficiency, he needs to bite her to get runes. It was Pino (the Valvrave AI girl) possessing him because she was curious about sex. (If you pay attention to the scene, it flashes to Pino, cheering and chanting sex.) Truly disturbing, and it makes me wonder whether Pino and Prue (the blue haired one) will get some form of comeuppance.

Is it too hard to just have a 3 season anime?! How is this one supposed to just end with one episode left? Is one part going to be based on the future with the other on the present? I don’t rely on OVAs and I can’t see one being made.

How come I have the feeling that they will just leave the show as it is and finish it at season 2? I mean sure… there can be alot more stories to be told in the 3rd or even 4th season but I just cant shake the feeling they will let our own imagination do the work >.>

Cain is a wild card in this. He is the main antagonist, but he’s also proven to be smarter and stronger than any other character in the series. Also, he’s pretty much impossible to kill. You can’t blow him up in his mech unless you want to kill Prue at the same time, which is something that not only Pino will not allow, but the plot will not allow either considering his part in it.
If you try to kill Cain some other way, it won’t work because of both his regenerative abilities and the ability to jack other bodies if he needs to. So, the only way to kill Cain would be to completely drain his runes which is something you can’t do without him knowing and consenting to it.

So, in all actuality, there’s actually a great probability that Cain will survive this. He probably won’t have his position anymore, but he’ll live and go on to do other things. Also, the Magius will survive this too, they will just have to rethink their entire strategy and start over. L-elf and Haruto’s purpose was to reveal the truth of the secrets of the world to everyone. However, this will end up bringing more chaos with it, before some kind of order can be achieved.

How do the immortals die?
I mean Yamada died when the valvrave exploded, but Yamada was immortal, right?
And then before the valvrave exploded, Yamada didn’t show any kind of healing abilities.
Is there any explanation to this? Did I miss something?

You overwhelm their healing abilities. They’re not like the immortals from bacano; they have limits. When the heart stops, there’s a certain amount of time for the brain to still function, which is why a defibulator works. However, decapitation, immediately eliminating the brain, overwhelms their healing powers. On a similar note, completely incinerating the body has the same effect.

Wow so I just got caught up on the last 3 episodes today and boy were they worth marathoning. My whole reaction to each episode could be explained easily with “zamaa miro!” because I basically said that multiple times to multiple characters on the screen when they got served with truth. I think the whole over the top nature of this show just makes me gladly suspend my disbelief because it’s just executed in a good way. The same can’t be said for what I felt about Code Geass R2‘s latter half, but they sure have changed my view on whether they can sell a show or not.

As for Kakumeiki Valvrave as a series proper, I think this will probably stand on its own as a story. They will probably gauge the shows popularity, and if any new material comes out, they will be as a different Valvrave series. This show would most likely stand as a “prequel” or explanation of the setting of the Valvrave universe that could be explored in a new series, hence the future empire tie-ins. If there is never another series in the Valvrave universe, then hopefully this series should stand on it’s own, pending how it ends in the next episode.